Obituary of Baljit S. Puri

Allegany, NY- Baljit S. Puri, 87, passed away Saturday (July 26, 2025) at the Olean General Hospital. Born August 12, 1937, in Simla, India, he was the son of Sangat Singh and Harnam Kaur. On June 26, 1966, in New Delhi, India, he married Damyant Chatwal, who survives. Baljit lived in many countries, including over 14 years in Kenya, several years in Medan, Indonesia, as well as several years in Oslo, Norway with his wife and daughters. He spoke seven languages, including English, Punjabi, Hindi, Swahili, Indonesian, German, and Norwegian. He immigrated to the US in October 1969 and initially lived at the YMCA in Philadelphia, PA until finding employment at Victor Engineering and an apartment in Elizabeth, NJ. His wife and daughter Moninder joined him in the US on May 1, 1970. After moving from Elizabeth, NJ to Flemington, NJ in 1976, his second daughter Mondeep was born. Baljit attended many schools, including Aligarh University, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he earned masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration. He also earned a Masters of Science in Manufacturing Management from the GMI Engineering & Management Institute in Flint, MI. He was certified by the State Board of Professional Engineers to practice Professional Engineering by the state of New Jersey. He was also a member of the American Society of Professional Engineers, as well as the The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Baljit had a long career as a project engineer for Dresser Rand in Olean. Prior to Dresser Rand, he held positions at Foster Wheeler, Ingersoll Rand, Victor Engineering, and Burma Shell. In his free time, he enjoyed cross country skiing, computers, refurbishing and repairing old cars, investing in the stock market, and Bollywood movies. He found joy in landscaping his property, doing various chores around the house, and fixing anything that needed it. Bajit loved to travel with his wife around the world, and visited five continents and 99 countries. he visited both the north and south poles, as well as many other remote destinations in between. Even in later years Baljit was determined to continue traveling and literally climbed Machu Picchu on his hands and knees. He was a huge lover of cruises and spent many days at sea exploring all corners of the world. Even as the pandemic began to spread, Baljit and Damyant were cruising in Asia and were fortunate enough to get home safely. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his two daughters, Moninder (Bernd Schlotter) Puri-Schlotter of Menlo Park, CA and Mondeep (Josh Segall) Puri of Pittsburgh, PA; his grandchildren, Stefan Schlotter of San Francisco, CA, Alexa Schlotter of New York, NY, Roshan Segall of Pittsburgh, PA, and Asha Segall of Pittsburgh PA; a brother Amarjit Puri of London, and a sister Saroj Puri of New Delhi, India, as well as several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by a brother, Baldev Puri, and a sister, Appi Bahl. Friends will be received on Thursday (July 31, 2025) from 11:30 am to 12 at the Casey, Halwig and Hartle Funeral Home, 3128 West State Road, Olean. A prayer service will begin at 12.